The Dream Book of Self-Knowledge

Sadism

  • sadism and masochism are latently present in everyone and inevitably appear in dreams; these psychopathological syndromes*83 are an emotional culmination of the third phase of the prenatal process, a phase in which the use of pornographic scenes and even of masochistic and sadistic elements is typical (see Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype).
  • a foretelling of a sadomasochistic experience is aggression.
  • sadomasochism very often manifests itself by biting food or a person (see Biting).
  • painful (torturing) fire: if compassion is present from the dreamer, then it is the preparation for the transformation of the personality and destruction of lower components of being (instincts and sometimes even emotions); without compassion it is only a sadomasochistic sign whose origin lies in the third phase of the Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype since fire is a frequently experienced element indicating spiritual rebirth in this very archetype.
  • sadomasochistic orgies, like ecstasy, beauty of nature, cosmic engulfment, immense mental and physical suffering, the absurdity of the human world, dying, rebirth and redemption, sensory enrichment etc. are among the experiences of extraordinary states of consciousness.